Strawberry Festival queen captures work of relief group in Haiti through photos

Michelle Cherikos never thought she would travel to Haiti for a mission trip or compete in – and win – a pageant. But in the past year, the 2015 Mrs. Strawberry Festival queen has done both.

“I love my bed. I love my flat iron. I love my makeup,” Cherikos said. But she chose to forgo all of those to serve in a place where, Cherikos said, food and water are scarce, trash lines the streets and most children are barefoot.

“A lot of the kids you meet, you think they’re 8 or 9 and they’re 16,” Cherikos said. “Because they’ve been malnourished for so long.”

Cherikos traveled to Haiti with Give Hope Global, a faith-oriented relief organization headquartered in Fort Mill, for the first time in October 2014, and again in February and June of this year. Cherikos took her son Aiden, 9, on the February trip and he will accompany her again in October.

As the owner of Angel Eye Portraits, Cherikos got involved with Give Hope Global as the organizations’ photographer. Give Hope’s director, Angela Quinn, said she had been “praying for years” for a photographer to travel with her and the team and capture on film the work being done there.

“Michelle Cherikos was definitely the answer to that prayer,” Quinn said.

Cherikos raises her own money for her trips and takes the photos as a volunteer. She won the Mrs. S.C. Strawberry Festival title in April with Give Hope Global as her platform.

“I was so stressed out,” Cherikos said about competing in the pageant. Her friend Dana Boutwell, 2013 Mrs. S.C. Strawberry Festival, encouraged her to enter.

“(The pageant) is not an easy thing,” Cherikos said. “I know it’s a local pageant, but it’s not easy. Those judges, they had some tough questions.”

And the pageant night itself wasn’t without its flaws, Cherikos said. She faced a backstage wardrobe malfunction and almost took a tumble in front of the audience.

“I was the girl who tripped walking off the stage,” Cherikos said. “I turned and waved and just kept going. That’s my life.”

But despite a few mishaps, Cherikos took home the crown. Since winning her title, Cherikos has organized a book bag drive for the children in Give Hope Global’s partner orphanages.

In May, residents donated $20 at the Queen’s Strawberry Festival booth to sponsor a book bag for Cherikos to take to children in Haiti in October.

The community sponsored enough book bags – around 50 – for every child to receive one at one of the orphanages.

To make it personal, Cherikos said, the sponsors filled out a card to go with their bag and Cherikos will photograph each child opening their bag and holding up their personalized card. By Halloween, pictures will be up for viewing on various media channels.

A second book bag drive is in the planning stages, Cherikos said, as well as a Give Hope Tree around Christmas, similar to the Angel Tree concept of sponsoring a child for Christmas gifts.

Quinn said she was thrilled when Cherikos approached her with her plans to compete in the pageant.

“I saw from the beginning that Michelle was competing for one reason only and that was for the children and to bring awareness to them,” Quinn said.

For Cherikos and her son Aiden, the experience visiting Haitian orphanages has been life-changing.

Aiden came back with a “more giving spirit about him,” Cherikos said. “He definitely didn’t feel as much entitlement, as our kids do.”

Aiden’s third grade class at Tega Cay Elementary pitched in to purchase bracelets made in Haiti for $5 to show their support. That small gesture, Cherikos said, fed a Haitian family of three for three months.

And now the countdown is on until they return.

“My hope is that God will work through me to help our community see that every child is worthy of our help,” Cherikos said.

This story was originally published July 30, 2015 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Strawberry Festival queen captures work of relief group in Haiti through photos."